God is Flooding Kentucky because the People are Evil?

[Diogenes]

Assigning moral blame for natural disasters is becoming a sort of time-honored custom in some circles of Christian fundamentalism. That's why when Pat Robertson claimed that the earthquake in Haiti was caused by its people's "pact with the devil," few were surprised. Robertson and other evangelical ministers have pinned a number of tragic, large-scale disasters on the victims.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ms/341489/

Many Christian preachers claimed AIDS was God's punishment of homosexual behavior.
'...televangelist Jerry Falwell said 9/11 occurred because of pagans, abortionists, feminists, "the gays and the lesbians" and the ACLU.'
"Gay people to blame for Hurricane Harvey, say evangelical Christian leaders"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 33026.html
Many natural disasters occur in the Bible Belt. The latest example is the horrific flooding in rural Eastern Kentucky, the heart of the Bible Belt.
Questions:
Does God hate Christians?
To be consistent and honest, shouldn't these same TV evangelists blame the people of Kentucky and other parts of the Bible Belt for invoking 'God's Wrath?'
Or are these Christian leaders just another example of a faulty 'Christian' belief system, hypocrisy, or worse?

[bjs1]

[Replying to Diogenes in post #1]
Farwell and Robertson are outliers the Christian faith. Yes, they have a devout and sizable following, but their movements makes up a miniscule percentage of the total number of Christians in the world. I’m sure they can justify their take on the recent flooding within their belief system, but it is a belief system that is rejected by most Christians.

[Diogenes]

[Replying to Diogenes in post #1]
Farwell and Robertson are outliers the Christian faith. Yes, they have a devout and sizable following, but their movements makes up a miniscule percentage of the total number of Christians in the world. I’m sure they can justify their take on the recent flooding within their belief system, but it is a belief system that is rejected by most Christians.

"Outliers" is the wrong word. There is a significant number of American Christians who dote on Falwell, Robertson, and their ilk. "The media often look to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell to speak on behalf of all evangelicals, yet less than half of all evangelicals themselves (44%) have a favorable view of Falwell...."
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/20 ... -21.0.html

Yet that number is still a significant and embarrassing percentage of evangelicals.

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

[bjs1]

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

That is in fact in opposition to the actual heart of Christianity, at least as it has traditionally been taught. More traditional (and still normative) Christianity says, "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance finishes its work so that you may be mature and complete."

[Diogenes]

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

That is in fact in opposition to the actual heart of Christianity....

I agree with you... in terms of what Jesus of Nazareth taught. But that is no longer Christianity. I'm not sure it ever was. That brand of Christianity died with Jesus.

[The Nice Centurion]

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

That is in fact in opposition to the actual heart of Christianity, at least as it has traditionally been taught. More traditional (and still normative) Christianity says, "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance finishes its work so that you may be mature and complete."

I see no oppositional viewpoints here.
Flood sends sinners straight to hell, while gives perseverance to true christians if not sending them to heaven instead.

But it may well be that generally the evangelical churches are not as theologically friendly to as other as they would like to seem.
For example:
When evangelical authors brought ot tjhe "Left Behind" Series, some other evangelicas despised its exegetical outlay.

[bjs1]

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

That is in fact in opposition to the actual heart of Christianity....

I agree with you... in terms of what Jesus of Nazareth taught. But that is no longer Christianity. I'm not sure it ever was. That brand of Christianity died with Jesus.

I always enjoy it when non-Christians tell Christians what Christianity really is. I assume that you are good with me telling atheists what atheism is, correct?

[1213]

...
To be consistent and honest, shouldn't these same TV evangelists blame the people of Kentucky and other parts of the Bible Belt for invoking 'God's Wrath?'
...

Maybe, but I think all should know what Jesus said in similar case:

Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
Luke 13:1-5

However, I think flood is not necessary a bad thing. How many people died in the Kentucky flood?

[AgnosticBoy]

Farwell and Robertson are outliers the Christian faith. Yes, they have a devout and sizable following, but their movements makes up a miniscule percentage of the total number of Christians in the world. I’m sure they can justify their take on the recent flooding within their belief system, but it is a belief system that is rejected by most Christians.

The validity of a belief should be established based on logic and evidence and not on the number of Christians that believe.

Assigning moral blame for natural disasters is becoming a sort of time-honored custom in some circles of Christian fundamentalism. That's why when Pat Robertson claimed that the earthquake in Haiti was caused by its people's "pact with the devil," few were surprised. Robertson and other evangelical ministers have pinned a number of tragic, large-scale disasters on the victims.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ms/341489/

Many Christian preachers claimed AIDS was God's punishment of homosexual behavior.
'...televangelist Jerry Falwell said 9/11 occurred because of pagans, abortionists, feminists, "the gays and the lesbians" and the ACLU.'
"Gay people to blame for Hurricane Harvey, say evangelical Christian leaders"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 33026.html
Many natural disasters occur in the Bible Belt. The latest example is the horrific flooding in rural Eastern Kentucky, the heart of the Bible Belt.
Questions:
Does God hate Christians?
To be consistent and honest, shouldn't these same TV evangelists blame the people of Kentucky and other parts of the Bible Belt for invoking 'God's Wrath?'
Or are these Christian leaders just another example of a faulty 'Christian' belief system, hypocrisy, or worse?

Even in my Christian days, I questioned these views of Falwell and Robertson. If we're in a fallen world, then bad things will happen to good people. Perhaps Falwell and Robertson are not familiar with the difference between 'moral evil' and 'natural evil'.

[brunumb]

More importantly, this is the heart of the Christian scheme. "We prosper because we have faith, if not in this life, in the next. The evil doers get flooded... or go to Hell. The 'righteous' go to Heaven."

That is in fact in opposition to the actual heart of Christianity....

I agree with you... in terms of what Jesus of Nazareth taught. But that is no longer Christianity. I'm not sure it ever was. That brand of Christianity died with Jesus.

I always enjoy it when non-Christians tell Christians what Christianity really is. I assume that you are good with me telling atheists what atheism is, correct?

Many of the unbelievers here were once dyed in the wool Christians for many, many years and have a pretty good understanding of it. Feel free to tell us what atheism is, even if you were never a non-believer.